• Start home composting and turn garden and kitchen waste into an organic peat free compost. Reduced cost compost bins are currently available to Devon residents.

• Cut grass often enough to enable cuttings to be left on lawns.
• Think before you buy - do you need it? Or, can you hire or borrow it?
• Buy more fresh produce or grow your own. This uses less packaging as well as being healthier.
• Try to cut down on packaged items. Where possible buy items loose, minimally wrapped, or wrapped in recyclable packaging, such as paper and cardboard.

• Visit your local farmers market or greengrocers, where products are often contained in less packaging.
• Don't buy special-offer multiple products unless you can use them. Alternatively, buy products in bulk and share with a friend!
• Why not consider using your local milk delivery service. Dairies re-use the glass bottles by cleaning, sterilising and refilling them. This reduces the need for single-use milk containers.
• Consider using cloth nappies to cut down on disposables. Have a look at our Real nappy campaign for  advice about using cloth nappies and funding.
• Write and print on both sides of a page.
• Print only what you need to, condense the text and reduce the print quality, to save paper and ink.
• Send e-mails and e-cards to reduce paper waste.
• Register with the Mailing Preference Service to stop receiving junk mail. Mailing Preference Service, Freepost 22, London W1E 7EX. www.mpsonline.org.uk
• Hire or borrow - toys, tools, books, films etc - whenever you can.
• Start to use your local library. They can order in thousands of books, films and CDs, including new releases.

Reuse

• Instead of throwing your unwanted items away, consider ways in which they could be reused. You could have a car boot, or garage, sale and sell these items. Alternatively, advertise items in local papers, or your local shop may be able to put a card in the window.
• Support your local charity shop, or jumble sale, by donating unwanted clothing, household items and books.
• Items of clothing, which can no longer be worn, make excellent rags and cleaning cloths, when cut into pieces.
• Consider donating old computing, or audio-visual, equipment to schools, and unwanted magazines to waiting rooms.
• Buy used/second hand items. You might even find a bargain. Web sites such as Freecycle are a great source.

• Fix it, don't bin it.
• Before replacing cookers, refrigerators and other white goods, find out if they could be reconditioned, for another couple of years' use. Or, check if a local charity or community group could make use of the item.
• Why not try to spruce up old furniture rather than throwing it out. Is there a local furniture reuse scheme near you?
• When shopping, look for longer-lasting, harder-wearing products that are reusable, refillable or rechargeable, rather than disposable.
• Reuse aluminium foil. Plastic sandwich bags can also be cleaned and reused.
• Say 'no' to unwanted bags. Keep old shopping bags for reuse. Remember to take your old bags when you go shopping, or keep spare bags in your car, or at work, so you're never without. Supermarkets offer their customers "bags for life". These harder-wearing bags last longer - and the supermarket will often replace worn out ones.
• Alternatively, use cardboard boxes or cloth bags for your shopping.
• Buy your milk in returnable bottles from the milkman, as opposed to single-use paper, or plastic, cartons. To find out about your local milkman click here.

• Store food in resealable containers, instead of wrapping it in cling film or kitchen foil.
• Reuse envelopes, wrapping paper, gift bags, string, and elastic bands.
• Reuse scrap paper. Keep a tray for used paper by the phone for notes, etc.
• Plastic bottles can be used as mini 'greenhouses' for young plants. Yoghurt pots are good for seedlings.

Recycle

• Devon County Council and the District and Unitary councils of Devon provide a range of facilities for you to recycle your waste: Click here to find recycling facilties in your area.
• Organise yourself for recycling. Sort out areas or containers to store and separate your items when you are finished with them. Make sure the whole family knows what goes where. If you need containers click here.
• If your district/borough council operates a kerbside collection scheme, please use it.
• "Shop and Drop". Take your recyclables with you when you go to the supermarket - many have recycling facilities. This way you're not making an extra journey to recycle.
• Make recycling part of your regular routine.
• Try to buy products packaged in material that can be reused or recycled.
• Empty aerosol cans can often be recycled along with food tins and drink cans. Please remove the plastic lid, but don't worry about the plastic nozzle - this will be removed during the recycling process.
• Window envelopes - can they be recycled with that plastic window? Yes they can. The plastic window will be removed at the recycling plant.
• The "scrunch test" is a really good way of telling if something is aluminium.
  • Hold the item in the palm of your hand.
  • Clench your fist, scrunching the waste in your hand.
  • Release your grip so the item is lying in your palm again.
  • If the foil has remained 'scrunched up' then it's aluminium and can be recycled in the special containers.
  • If it pops back into its original form, it's not aluminium.
  • Crisp packets catch us out like that. They look like aluminium, but they're not - they're a metallised plastic.

Compost

• Add fresh materials daily – do not leave hanging around in buckets/caddies getting smelly and attracting flies
• Line your buckets/caddies with some paper and or card to soak up liquids and make cleaning easier
• Always make sure you have the right mix of wet to dry materials – fresh raw and cooked to dry woodchip/sawdust and mix well together
• It’s easy to store dry woodchip just cover it up in a bay or use a container
• There’s plenty of woodchip around, you could ask if any parents or governors have a tree surgery business and could supply you. 
• Wherever possible chop up whole fruit and vegetables or large items
• Tumble and mix every time you add fresh materials
• Leave enough space for tumbling to occur
• Keep records of what you are doing, amounts, weights, volumes, types of materials, observations of moisture, temperature, odour. This can be linked to curriculum work and some real understanding of the biological processes – pH monitoring using simple litmus tests at different stages of the composting would also be interesting. This monitoring can inform other schools as to how to develop better practise.
• Cardboard and paper should not be added to tumbling systems in any large quantity as they tend to absorb too much moisture, do not offer and structure allowing air flow and tend to conglomerate into balls.
• Observe what is going on and take steps to rectify any problems as soon as possible, this generally means adjusting the moisture levels or emptying the tumbler into the maturation bin.
• It’s rare for the compost to be too dry but if it does seem to be too dry it’s better to try and add fresh green material than water.
• Don’t panic! Compost happens!
• Here is a web page to help with Getting the right mix.

Troubleshooting

• Flies – a few are quite natural but swarms are more tricky. Fruit flies like fruit obviously so frequent emptying into an active system on a daily basis it the best thing to do. Getting the mix right is essential. Blow flies are attracted to fresh meat, you shouldn’t have this in your system except perhaps in very small quantities, a hot active system is essential. If you do get large maggots in the compost or lots of blow flies around, try and find some laurel leaves and add them to the composter.
• Other insects, ants, woodlice, beetles – these are all perfectly fine, ant colonies can sometimes take up residence.